Post WW II Generations had it Easy

[Griz]

I heard someone comment the other day that the "Baby-Boomers had it easy." I know, I'm being like the Hockey Night in Canada guy by calling things in hindsight, but I believe what this person meant was that the baby Boomers basically had everything handed to them (sort of). It was easy to buy a house and in some cases homes were practically freely, given to them. Now they can turn around and sell that house in a hot market and make millions. They had it easy: get by on a week with $10.00 of gas on a car they purchased for under 200 bucks. Buy a pop, bag a chips, and candy bar for a quarter. Big question, why are some of them so cranky now?

[wyly]

I heard someone comment the other day that the "Baby-Boomers had it easy." I know, I'm being like the Hockey Night in Canada guy by calling things in hindsight, but I believe what this person meant was that the baby Boomers basically had everything handed to them (sort of). It was easy to buy a house and in some cases homes were practically freely, given to them. Now they can turn around and sell that house in a hot market and make millions. They had it easy: get by on a week with $10.00 of gas on a car they purchased for under 200 bucks. Buy a pop, bag a chips, and candy bar for a quarter. Big question, why are some of them so cranky now?

all sounds good until you realize minimum wage where I lived was $1.25 per hr...$10 per day, $50 per week, $200 per month...ya the money was easy ...

$200 for a car was all I could afford, no rubber on the tires, rust held the metal parts together, batteries so used up you took them indoors on winter nights and you drove them until they died...a $1 per week in gas was all I needed another car I owned, constantly adding oil cost me $3 per week, it lasted a year...

free houses? really, I must have been on another planet at the time I missed that...I do recall 20% interest rates and thousands of people walking away from their homes...I can recall having to decide what bills not to pay in order to make mortgage payments, not eating at times so my kids could eat...ya us boomers had it easy, good times good times...

[Wilber]

Ya I can remember driving my 12 year old $200 car to my $250 a month job.

[Michael Hardner]

The baby boomers had it "easier" than their parents' generation, in terms of material wealth. That's because the economy improved over the early 20th century through huge productivity gains.

But comparing our lives today to those of the "boomer" generation is an apples-and-oranges comparison. While house prices are an order of magnitude higher today, in real terms, there are other compensations.

The main advantage to our generation that I can see is freedom of life choices, and generally more options and choices. A man in 1955 was expected to marry, buy a house and have children. Women were only expected to fulfill the latter pursuit.

I also point out that the multiplicity of media today, which contains several times more channels than 50 years ago, gives us many more lenses to look at our society and - in my view - focuses on the negative, mostly because crisis sells.

[Wilber]

The baby boomer's had it "easier" than their parents' generation, in terms of material wealth. That's because the economy improved over the early 20th century through huge productivity gains.

No comparison with the previous generation, boomer's and everyone since have so far avoided a great depression and two world wars. The stress that their numbers put on support systems may result in them having a rougher time in old age than pre boomer's however. Time will tell.

I think jobs were easier to find when boomers were starting out (pariticularly decent paying un or semi skilled jobs, few of which exist any more) and post secondary education was more accessible, but my kids have a lot more than this boomer did at their age. They're working hard for it so that's a good thing.

[eyeball]

Where I live any kid from the city could find a high paying job in the bush or out fishing.

I recall it looking like a city out on the ocean there were so many boats, now you can fish for days without seeing any others at all. If there are any trees still falling in the forest they're so few and far between you wouldn't hear them if you tried.

Now even local kids have to settle for waiting on tables, begging for tips and trying to scrape together $800 for their rent.

The boomers had it easy because they still had a planet for the taking.

[kimmy]

I think the cost of buying a home has gone up far out of proportion to incomes.

I remember a relative once telling me "when I was your age, I had a brand new car and a staff of 5 working for me!" and my dad told him "yeah, well, if you weren't making money in 1959 you were a real shmuck."

-k

[Guest American Woman]

I heard someone comment the other day that the "Baby-Boomers had it easy." I know, I'm being like the Hockey Night in Canada guy by calling things in hindsight, but I believe what this person meant was that the baby Boomers basically had everything handed to them (sort of). It was easy to buy a house and in some cases homes were practically freely, given to them. Now they can turn around and sell that house in a hot market and make millions. They had it easy: get by on a week with $10.00 of gas on a car they purchased for under 200 bucks. Buy a pop, bag a chips, and candy bar for a quarter. Big question, why are some of them so cranky now?

You do realize that salaries were lower back then too, right? -- that it wasn't just the price of gas and chips that was lower?

But yeah, I miss the days of free houses. Those were the days, my friend ....

As a side note, my kids had a helluva lot more handed to them than I ever did, but they have a great work ethic and aren't one of the whiney Gen Y's that seem to be so prevalent.

I remember a relative once telling me "when I was your age, I had a brand new car and a staff of 5 working for me!" and my dad told him "yeah, well, if you weren't making money in 1959 you were a real shmuck."

The United States Census Bureau considers a baby boomer to be someone born during the demographic birth boom between 1946 and 1964.

I don't think most baby boomers were out in the work world in 1959.

[wyly]

each generation seems to have it somewhat easier than the generation before...as a boomer I'd give anything to start life over now, life is so much easier now then back in the day...of course my older siblings most of whom were pre-war and war babies say I had it easy, and in compraison to them I did...

[eyeball]

...as a boomer I'd give anything to start life over now...

Those who spend their time wishing they knew then what they know now risk missing out on something they'll be saying the same thing about in the future.

[Guest American Woman]

each generation seems to have it somewhat easier than the generation before...

It's true that each generation generally tries to give their kids more than they had, but there has to come a time when it's impossible to give more because they've got just about everything, and when it gets to that point, some kids start developing a sense of entitlement.

When I went from being a kid to being an adult, I had more; I had a better lifestyle. These days, so many kids have so much that when they go from being a kid to being an adult they have less, because who, on a starting salary, can continue the lifestyle that they had when their parents were providing so much for them? Obviously I'm talking strictly material things here.

I think that's why a lot of kids think they have it so rough these days, though -- because their lifestyle takes a dive when they have to make it on their own whereas ours improved because we had less to begin with.

I'd give anything to start life over now, life is so much easier now then back in the day...

When all is said and done, I do believe that each generation has its crosses to bear; I think each really has its own problems to deal with and overcome. I wouldn't want to start life over for anything.

[bush_cheney2004]

The United States Census Bureau considers a baby boomer to be someone born during the demographic birth boom between 1946 and 1964.

I don't think most baby boomers were out in the work world in 1959.

Indeed...besides, the US Census Bureau doesn't apply to Canada!

[Guest American Woman]

Indeed...besides, the US Census Bureau doesn't apply to Canada!

Tis true, but basically the same definition applies in Canada:

In Canada, one influential attempt to define the boom came from David Foot, author of Boom, Bust and Echo: Profiting from the Demographic Shift in the 21st Century, published in 1997 and 2000. He defines the Canadian boom as 1947 to 1966 ..... Doug Owram argues that the demographic Canadian boom took place from 1946 to 1962.

So my point still stands since most Canadian baby boomers weren't out in the work world, either.

[bush_cheney2004]

Tis true, but basically the same definition applies in Canada:

No....it is very, very important to the "Canadian identity" that the definition not be the same.

[kimmy]

The United States Census Bureau considers a baby boomer to be someone born during the demographic birth boom between 1946 and 1964.

I don't think most baby boomers were out in the work world in 1959.

Fascinating, but who cares?

Uncle Jim may have been a 5-10 years too old to qualify as a baby-boomer, but he was just the right age to cash in on the period of unparalleled prosperity that started after WWII and continued into the 1970s. He's even luckier than the boomers: too young to have experienced the Great Depression or fought in WWII, but old enough to cash in soon after.

"We gave our kids so much more than our parents ever gave us!" Of course. It's a generation that was able to amass wealth in a way that's unprecedented in our history, and doesn't recognize that those who come afterward are not going to have the opportunity to do the same.

I like eyeball's earlier comment: "The boomers had it easy because they still had a planet for the taking."

-k

[bush_cheney2004]

...I like eyeball's earlier comment: "The boomers had it easy because they still had a planet for the taking."

The same planet had even more for the taking before 1946....so they did as well.

[Guest American Woman]

Fascinating, but who cares?

Since the comment had nothing to do with baby boomers, in a thread about baby boomers, I found it odd tis all. But it was a truly fascinating comment in a totally irreverent way.

"We gave our kids so much more than our parents ever gave us!" Of course. It's a generation that was able to amass wealth in a way that's unprecedented in our history, and doesn't recognize that those who come afterward are not going to have the opportunity to do the same.

Of course. We all had it so much easier than you do. (Sounds a wee bit like the whiny Gen Y attitude that I mentioned earlier).

I like eyeball's earlier comment: "The boomers had it easy because they still had a planet for the taking."

Easier for those who wanted to go into careers like the fishing industry, perhaps, so sorry that's not going to work out for you, as I'm sure that's what you aspired to.

Fact is, in some ways it's easier for you than it was for baby boomers, especially women who were just entering the work force, who up until then thought they had little choice other than to get married and raise babies. They set the precedent for Gen X and Gen Y to be able to go into any field they desire and set the bar for things like discrimination, harassment, etc. Furthermore, different opportunities are available in this tech world that weren't available to us. But keep lamenting about how much easier we had it while making excuses for your generation. After all, we had houses handed to us.

Oddly enough, my daughters see the world as more open to their generation than it was to mine. I guess it's all in the attitude .....

Edited December 13, 2009 by American Woman

[bush_cheney2004]

...Of course. We all had it so much easier than you do. (Sounds a wee bit like the whiny Gen Y attitude that I mentioned earlier).

Indeed....the example of commercial fishing has advanced to the modern stage of being the most destructive meat/protein harvesting practice on the planet. The methods are indiscriminate, destroy the most valuable resources, and disrupt entire ecosystems on a grand scale.

Fishing is the most environmentally destructive of all meat industries. Today’s fishing technologies fishing ships stay out on the water for months, using technology such as sonar tracking to hunt down schools of fish. The non-target animals are left to die, leaving environmental devastation. Fishing boats when they are out on water use methods such as bottom trawling and long-lining which have stripped millions of miles of ocean and pushed some marine species to extinction.

Bottom trawling, involves dragging nets larger than football fields along thousands of miles of ocean floor, and other aggressive commercial-fishing practices are wiping out entire underwater ecosystems and pushing our oceans to the brink of environmental collapse.

[eyeball]

Indeed....the example of commercial fishing has advanced to the modern stage of being the most destructive meat/protein harvesting practice on the planet. The methods are indiscriminate, destroy the most valuable resources, and disrupt entire ecosystems on a grand scale.

Fishing is the most environmentally destructive of all meat industries. Today’s fishing technologies fishing ships stay out on the water for months, using technology such as sonar tracking to hunt down schools of fish. The non-target animals are left to die, leaving environmental devastation. Fishing boats when they are out on water use methods such as bottom trawling and long-lining which have stripped millions of miles of ocean and pushed some marine species to extinction.

Bottom trawling, involves dragging nets larger than football fields along thousands of miles of ocean floor, and other aggressive commercial-fishing practices are wiping out entire underwater ecosystems and pushing our oceans to the brink of environmental collapse.

True enough, but you won't find this in a modern fishery that has cameras and a truly rigorous monitoring and auditing process that accounts for everything that is caught, including by-catch. Do the same to other food producing industries and others that impact the environment and see how you feel.

My particular commercial fishery is an example of the most closely monitored fishery on the planet. The methods of monitoring are discriminate and destroy the ability to operate in secrecy and disrupt entire ecosystems on a grand scale in the process.

More importantly the methods of this monitoring provide me the opportunity to continue fishing. Without it, I'm not allowed to go fishing, its just that simple. This year, my produce contributed to the incomes of four families and every boat load of fish I caught (every 3 - 5 days) created a full days employment for about 80 - 90 people.

I should also add the cost of our oversight comes off the top of the catch. That's roughly equal to a crewman's share, or about $1000 per trip. Accountability and transparency creates jobs as well as saves them.

Edited December 13, 2009 by eyeball

[kimmy]

Since the comment had nothing to do with baby boomers, in a thread about baby boomers, I found it odd tis all. But it was a truly fascinating comment in a totally irreverent way.

The thread is really about people who cashed in after WWII, so Uncle Jim is relevant even if he's a few years too old to be a "boomer".

Of course. We all had it so much easier than you do.

There, that wasn't so painful, was it?

Easier for those who wanted to go into careers like the fishing industry, perhaps, so sorry that's not going to work out for you, as I'm sure that's what you aspired to.

If it was just fish, maybe you'd have a point. The damage done to the fisheries by your generation just mirrors the damage done in other areas by your generation's mentality that there's always more land, more water, more oil, more trees, more places to bury garbage, and that the air can always hold more pollution. That free ride has since come to an end.

Fact is, in some ways it's easier for you than it was for baby boomers, especially women who were just entering the work force, who up until then thought they had little choice other than to get married and raise babies. They set the precedent for Gen X and Gen Y to be able to go into any field they desire and set the bar for things like discrimination, harassment, etc. Furthermore, different opportunities are available in this tech world that weren't available to us. But keep lamenting about how much easier we had it while making excuses for your generation.

I make no excuses at all. I've done very well for myself. However, I find the smarmy attitude and self congratulatory back-patting of people old enough to have cashed in after WWII to be quite off-putting. There is this mythology that it was a tremendous work ethic and strength of character that created all of that wealth, when really it was just being in the right place at the right time.

Your generation seems to see itself as paragons of progress who achieved great things and take smug satisfaction that none who come after have achieved the levels of wealth that you did.

I see your generation as more like obnoxious party guests who showed up, got drunk, puked on the carpet, and left behind a big mess to clean up.

After all, we had houses handed to us.

Relative to income, houses cost a fraction back then of what they do now.

-k

[bloodyminded]

The thread is really about people who cashed in after WWII, so Uncle Jim is relevant even if he's a few years too old to be a "boomer".

There, that wasn't so painful, was it?

If it was just fish, maybe you'd have a point. The damage done to the fisheries by your generation just mirrors the damage done in other areas by your generation's mentality that there's always more land, more water, more oil, more trees, more places to bury garbage, and that the air can always hold more pollution. That free ride has since come to an end.

I make no excuses at all. I've done very well for myself. However, I find the smarmy attitude and self congratulatory back-patting of people old enough to have cashed in after WWII to be quite off-putting. There is this mythology that it was a tremendous work ethic and strength of character that created all of that wealth, when really it was just being in the right place at the right time.

Your generation seems to see itself as paragons of progress who achieved great things and take smug satisfaction that none who come after have achieved the levels of wealth that you did.

I see your generation as more like obnoxious party guests who showed up, got drunk, puked on the carpet, and left behind a big mess to clean up.

Relative to income, houses cost a fraction back then of what they do now.

-k

I also would like to take a slight exception to the very notion of a "work ethic," a term thrown around as if it were something self-evident and simple.

I have been informed--always by a boss or a manager--that I have a "good work ethic." And while I appreciate that this is meant as a compliment, it is actually a meaningless phrase, not quite rising to the level of informed vacuity.

Arguably, if a person despises his or her job, but works really hard, he or she has what we might term a "work ethic."

But really, it's usually more a matter of fear--fear of losing one's job. Fear is not an "ethic."

This applies far moreso for people with rewarding jobs which they enjoy. If you love your job, and you don't mind being at work, and you receive satisfaction from it...then working hard at it is not an "ethic." Not unless "ethics" mean something a hell of a lot different from what every moral philosophy discusses, and different from what every good parent or mentor teaches us.

Screw this "work ethic" nonsense.

Edited December 13, 2009 by bloodyminded

[bush_cheney2004]

True enough, but you won't find this in a modern fishery that has cameras and a truly rigorous monitoring and auditing process that accounts for everything that is caught, including by-catch. Do the same to other food producing industries and others that impact the environment and see how you feel.

Yes I will....because the "rigorous monitoring" is just a token industry concession to permit the onslaught of natural resources.

My particular commercial fishery is an example of the most closely monitored fishery on the planet. The methods of monitoring are discriminate and destroy the ability to operate in secrecy and disrupt entire ecosystems on a grand scale in the process.

More nonsense.....but don't worry, we all have to rationalize it away somehow. Moreover, the damage was already done.

More importantly the methods of this monitoring provide me the opportunity to continue fishing. Without it, I'm not allowed to go fishing, its just that simple. This year, my produce contributed to the incomes of four families and every boat load of fish I caught (every 3 - 5 days) created a full days employment for about 80 - 90 people.

STOP FISHING NOW! STOP FISHING NOW! YOU ARE DESTROYING THE PLANET! OH THE HUMANITY!

I should also add the cost of our oversight comes off the top of the catch. That's roughly equal to a crewman's share, or about $1000 per trip. Accountability and transparency creates jobs as well as saves them.

What a bunch of self serving malarkey....how come I can survive without destroying any fish...or "fisheries" ???

[Guest American Woman]

The thread is really about people who cashed in after WWII, so Uncle Jim is relevant even if he's a few years too old to be a "boomer".

He's too old to be considered part of the "post war" generation. He wasn't born "post war" if he was out in the work world, a home owner, in 1959. Unless he accomplished all that by the age of 13.

There, that wasn't so painful, was it?

Not at all. I've never found directing sarcasm at the uninformed to be painful.

If it was just fish, maybe you'd have a point. The damage done to the fisheries by your generation just mirrors the damage done in other areas by your generation's mentality that there's always more land, more water, more oil, more trees, more places to bury garbage, and that the air can always hold more pollution. That free ride has since come to an end.

Yes ma'am! And of course that's why I had it so easy, because I worked in the fish and forestry industry as cashed in on the garbage burying industry on the side-- when I wasn't busy polluting the air. And of course none of the generations before or after the baby boomers did any of that. We alone did it all. And that's why we were able to get jobs, hold them, and buy a house.

I make no excuses at all. I've done very well for myself. However, I find the smarmy attitude and self congratulatory back-patting of people old enough to have cashed in after WWII to be quite off-putting. There is this mythology that it was a tremendous work ethic and strength of character that created all of that wealth, when really it was just being in the right place at the right time.

Yes, that's it. Right place at the right time. Everyone in the baby boomer generation was simply in the right place at the right time. They didn't have any skills, any drive, or any determination to do well. It was simply a matter of walking into any door and starting to amass the wealth. While poor little ol' you apparently overcame all kinds of obstacles in order to have "done very well for yourself." And you talk about others having a smarmy attitude? The irony is just too funny.

Your generation seems to see itself as paragons of progress who achieved great things and take smug satisfaction that none who come after have achieved the levels of wealth that you did.

Good Lord. You really are a whiny Gen Y; not to mention a "victim" ... of just about everything. Now you're evidently a victim of my generation's smugness.

I see your generation as more like obnoxious party guests who showed up, got drunk, puked on the carpet, and left behind a big mess to clean up.

Again, I feel compelled to bring up the irony that you have the gall talk about other's smarmy remarks. And again, you personify the stereotype of the pathetic whiny Gen Y; always the victim.

Relative to income, houses cost a fraction back then of what they do now.

Only if you have the self-entitlement attitude that you should be able to start out with a mansion on Park Avenue. "Starter houses" are still as affordable relative to income as ever; and I hate to burst your 'poor me, I was born at the wrong time' bubble, but I know plenty of people your age who own their own home.

Edited December 13, 2009 by American Woman

[Guest American Woman]

I also would like to take a slight exception to the very notion of a "work ethic," a term thrown around as if it were something self-evident and simple.

I have been informed--always by a boss or a manager--that I have a "good work ethic." And while I appreciate that this is meant as a compliment, it is actually a meaningless phrase, not quite rising to the level of informed vacuity.

Arguably, if a person despises his or her job, but works really hard, he or she has what we might term a "work ethic."

But really, it's usually more a matter of fear--fear of losing one's job. Fear is not an "ethic."

People without a good work ethic don't fear losing their jobs because they'll happily live off whatever they can get from the system, or they'll try to scam/use someone for their money, or whatever else they cook up rather than work; or they'll be content to do as little as they have to in order to get by.

This applies far moreso for people with rewarding jobs which they enjoy. If you love your job, and you don't mind being at work, and you receive satisfaction from it...then working hard at it is not an "ethic." Not unless "ethics" mean something a hell of a lot different from what every moral philosophy discusses, and different from what every good parent or mentor teaches us.

work ethic

Definition

The values of hard work instilled in or held by employees. For example, an employee with a good work ethic would complete projects and other tasks of a high quality, and take pride in the quality of his or her work.

Edited December 13, 2009 by American Woman

[eyeball]

Yes I will....because the "rigorous monitoring" is just a token industry concession to permit the onslaught of natural resources.

More nonsense.....but don't worry, we all have to rationalize it away somehow. Moreover, the damage was already done.

STOP FISHING NOW! STOP FISHING NOW! YOU ARE DESTROYING THE PLANET! OH THE HUMANITY!

What a bunch of self serving malarkey....how come I can survive without destroying any fish...or "fisheries" ???

I have no idea. You could tell me but then how would I know you were telling the truth?